Blogs from Volta, Ghana, Africa - page 12

Advertisement

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 2nd 2008

When I woke up today I had absolutely no desire to go to Christ Orphanage. This is the first morning this has happened to this extent. However, I did go, and I'm obviously glad I went. Rudolph, the 8 year old who was sent to the ER yesterday, is fine. They're not quite sure what was wrong with him but he is doing amazing today which is wonderful. Seeing what he was like yesterday was really scary. Raymond the headmaster taught the youngest class today and, as always, did a phenomenal job. He went around to each child and made them introduce themselves in English to the rest of the class. Each time a kid completed this task we did this funny little applause thing that is honestly one of the cutest things I've ever seen. ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho April 1st 2008

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY EVERYONE! Yes, this fantastic holiday does also occur in Ghana. When we tried to play April Fools Day tricks on the staff they did catch on after a few seconds of thinking about what was going on. When I woke up, someone had switched the buffet dinner table and the table where all the snacks (pretty much just white bread and chocolate spread) are located, which was super trippy. When we arrived at Christ in the morning, Rudolph, an 8 year old orphan, was super sick, more so than anything I have ever seen before. He could not hold his head up and his eyes were rolling back into his head so someone brought him to the emergency room. Even besides Rudolph, Christ was out of control today. We went over these ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 31st 2008

Woke up and was off to Christ Orphanage for the start of a LONG week. It was actually the most fun day I've had there so far. Raymond the headmaster taught the youngest class. He's an excellent teach and comes up with things to keep their attention that I wouldn't even think about. I took video of the kids and they nearly fell over dead when they saw themselves on video...I don't think they knew there is any such thing as a video camera. After Christ I ran into town with Matt, Teal, and Diana. I picked up a dress from the tailor and it's hideous...I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. We bought FanMilk (Ghanian ice cream) from a guy riding a bike, and less than a minute later, Matt pointed ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 30th 2008

Woke up and visited the Cape Coast castle where all of Ghana's slave trading was done in the 1600s. It was a really sombering experience. To think of what Ghanians endured in their own country was absolutely awful. I've never been so hot and sweaty as I was at the slave trade...it was absolutely sweltering. On our way back home, we again stopped at Frankie's in Accra. I had garlic cheese bread and dessert instead of the "Shatner." We headed to Accra's cultural market after that and it was overwhelming. Everything grabs you to get you to go into their store. There was a monkey at the cultural market that was chained which was really sad. We dropped Dallas Michelle off at her hotel in Accra and said some really sad goodbyes. I'm really going to ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 29th 2008

Woke up to a HOT WATER SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We ate breakfast on the beach at our hotel and headed off to our canopy tour, which is a bridge tour walking basically ABOVE the entire jungle. It was so cool to see. The view exceeded any expectations I had for the trip. Every tourist place has "volunteer" rates, so all tours cost a fraction of the price that they do for regular tourists...it's awesome. When we got back home we ate lunch. I had grilled barracuda which was pretty interesting. We laid around all afternoon; the ocean is crazy. It's weird to think that a beach this spectacular is hidden in a country like Ghana. The waves at the beach were out of control. They take you in and make it impossible to get out. Good thing I'm ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 28th 2008

Woke up and ran around four miles which actually felt a lot better than I expected. It's super hard to get yourself motivated enough to run in the morning, especially when you wake up dripping sweat daily. Our tro-tro to Cape Coast left at 8:30. Lo and behold, I forgot my bathing suit, so we had to turn around :) Right before we arrived in Accra (the capital of Ghana and halfway point to Cape Coast) we saw three HUGE wild baboons hanging out on the side of the road. It's weird to think stuff like that is normal here. We finally arrived in Accra after a little over three hours and sat in over an hour of traffic. I honestly thought I was going to have an anxiety attack. What kept me sane was actually ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 27th 2008

Christ Orphanage was crazy today! I don't know what was wrong, but all of the kids were acting funny and seemed to have issues. After Christ, I ran errands with Dallas Michelle to the fabric store, stationery store, post office, jewelry store, etc. She bought me a necklace so I can remember her which I thought was super sweet. Hottest day again so far, I swear :) And I've also noticed that when I run into white people here that I don't know personally they are really uncomfortable and unfriendly, although I have no idea why. When I run into white people I always give them a smile and a shoutout just because it's not an everyday occurrence! At night we went to a "lounge" called Lips for a last get together as Dallas Michelle is ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 26th 2008

Woke up, did laundry, and headed off to Christ. We took the kids to the river today and they had a really good time. I found out what is wrong with Linda. Apparently when her teenage mother was pregnant, she was hit by a car while riding a bicycle. She tried to take medication to terminate her pregnancy which was obviously not effective. Linda DID get a lot closer to saying "Sister Kacie" today. In the afternoon, we went to Beatrice to make Batik cloth. I planned on running errands with Dallas after that but it stormed like crazy. We played cards the rest of the afternoon. After supper (spaghetti...I could hardly eat!) we had a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. Needless to say, I hate gambling...I always spend SO much more than what I end up ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 25th 2008

Woke up and instead of going to Christ I worked on teh grant with Michelle. We took four big steps back---it is near impossible to find organizations willing to give us a grant. We worked on the presentation that I'll be giving when I get back to the U.S. I felt awful in the early afternoon so I took a nap and woke up with terrible chest pains and a rash all over my neck and fingers....still have no idea what it is. This afternoon we went to a place where they make pottery. We then went to this extremely beautiful park that showed 15 different phases of the crucifixion of Christ. The park was amazing and it had a beautiful view. We stopped for a Coca Cola on the way home where a woman asked ... read more

Africa » Ghana » Volta » Ho March 24th 2008

Slept in again today because I didn't need to be at placement until 1:00. I had the weirdest dreams last night. I dreamt that I came home really early and realized it. I found a baby in my car that I fed bread, cheese, and water. The FBI made me keep the baby until they could find the mother. I brought the little baby to Champps where the expos now had to fry the burgers. Weird thing is that Matt ALSO had a dream about going home early. I went on a bike ride to run errands in the morning with Emily. We brought fabric to Beatrice, a dressmaker and went to the market. I figured out who my bunny was! I got fabric to make a dress for my second gift and I figured out ... read more




Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.005s; cc: 5; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0531s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb